HIBISCUS FRIEND

I had just gotten home from a week long visit with my sister. While I was back sitting on my porch I couldn’t help but wonder how my North Carolina hibiscus friend was doing.

I grabbed my phone to call my sister. “Morning! Do you miss me?” I laughed when she picked up.

“I do!” She laughed. “I’m out on my porch having some coffee.”

“How’s my little hibiscus friend?” I asked.

The first morning I was there, we were sitting on her screened in porch when she pointed to the little green lizard sitting on her hibiscus plant.

“Is that a gecko?” I asked as I got closer to the screen to see him.

Just then he puffed up his throat which turned a bright red against the neon green of his body.

“What the heck!” I laughed as I stepped back. “What are you?”

I looked over at Liz, who shrugged her shoulders. “They’re some kind of little lizard. I just know they love that plant.”

I pulled my phone out of my pocket. “Well, now I need to know what he is.”

After typing ‘green lizard in North Carolina’, a picture of our little friend came up on the screen. “It’s an anole.” I held up the phone to show her. “And your hibiscus plant is a five star hotel for him!”

“Really?” Liz took a sip of her coffee. “Well, I know they’re always on it.”

I looked back at my phone. “They like your hibiscus because it’s the perfect shade of green for camouflage, the flowers attract bugs for eating, and the leaves hold enough rain water for them to drink.” I looked back at the anole. “You’ve got it made here!” I said to him.

He puffed up his throat again. “Why does he keep doing that?” I began typing in my phone again. “Oh, it says it does that when he feels threatened.” I stepped back a little further. “Sorry, little guy. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Just then I felt one of Liz’s cats brush up against my leg, his tail flicking as he stared out the screen at the anole.

“So it’s you who’s scaring my new little friend!” I shooed him back into the house before sitting back down.

“The cats love watching him and all the birds at the feeder.”

I looked over at her bird feeder where several types of birds were jockeying for the best place to land.

“Well, now I want a pet anole!” I sighed.

Liz laughed. “I’m pretty sure New Jersey would be too cold for them in the winter.”

“True.” I admitted. “I guess I’ll just have to be happy with the chipmunks in my yard.”

“You know, now that you mention it, I’ve never seen a chipmunk here.” Liz said as one of the cats jumped up on her lap.

“Okay, now that’s only fair.” I laughed. “You get anoles and I get chipmunks. Both are adorable and we each get one.”

“There you go.” She laughed as she placed the cat on the ottoman in front of her and got up. “I’m going back in to make another cup of coffee. Do you want anything?” She asked.

“I’m good.” I said pointing back at the anole. “I’ll just be visiting with my new little friend until you get back.”

STORMS UP AND DOWN THE EAST COAST

I was sitting on the porch of my sister Liz’s house in North Carolina when the alert came over my phone. ‘STORMS UP AND DOWN THE EAST COAST’.

“Oh, no!” I said as I held the phone out to my sister. “I wonder what this is going to do to my flight back home tomorrow?” I was suppose to be heading back to New Jersey.

Liz looked up my flight for the next day. “It says your flight’s still on time.” She read.

“Well, there’s no use worrying about it today.” I sighed as I leaned back in my rocking chair and watched the hummingbirds flit around her salvia plants.

The next morning I was up and packed. “I’m ready!” I called as I wheeled my suitcase out of the bedroom.

“It’s still saying your flight’s on time.” She said as we headed out to the car.

Pulling into the airports drop-off lane we said our goodbyes at the curb and I rolled my bag into the airport.

An alert immediately sounded on my phone. ‘Your flight has been delayed for three hours.’ It read.

I sighed as I texted my sister the news.

“Do you want me to come back and pick you up?” She texted back.

“I’m good. I’ll just wait it out.” I texted back.

Several hours later, after many delays, our flight was ready to board. Lightning was flashing in the distance as I struggled to get my bag in the overhead. Once I was seated I let out a sigh of relief feeling that after all the delays I was still going to be sleeping in my own bed that night.

They had just closed the cabin door when the pilot came on the intercom. “Excuse me folks but there’s a back up at Newark airport. They aren’t going to let us take off just yet but we’re going to push back from the gate and find a safe place on the runway to wait out the storm.”

Groans and the sounds of babies crying met the announcement.

Hours later we were still riding around the tarmac waiting for the perfect weather window. We’d already been served the ‘secret’ cookie stash they reserved for just these occasions and given a glass of water.

Each time the pilot came on the intercom, giving us some hope of take-off, the crowd was believing him less and less. After we’d spent four hours tooling around the tarmac, from one parking space to the next, it seemed the pilot was also beginning to give up hope and mentioned there was a strong possibility that we might be called back to the gate.

Loud groans and babies crying, now that it was way past their bedtimes, commenced.

His fateful mistake was immediately after saying we could be headed back to the gate that he came back on the intercom and said we’d been given another window of clearer weather and there was still hope for a take-off.

A few of the mother’s of the crying babies were voicing their concerns when out of the crowd a single voice called out “JUSTICE FOR THE BABIES!” She not only said it once but twice. I’m assuming she was hoping others would join in on the chant but instead everyone got quiet, even the babies. That’s when she added, “I’M ABOUT TO LOSE IT HERE!”.

Within seconds the pilot came back on the intercom and said we were going back to the gate and that there was no chance of taking off today.

As we were taxiing back to the gate I couldn’t help but wonder, was our imminent de-boarding about the weather or was it the screaming woman who called off our flight?

I guess I’ll never know. But looking on the bright side she has given me a new catch phrase about justice!

PERFECT PACKING

I was in my bedroom busy packing for a trip to see my sister Liz. While I was holding up different pieces of jewelry, trying to match them to the outfits that were laid out on my bed, my husband Steven was suddenly standing next to me.

“Oh, my gosh!” I cried as I jumped a few feet away from him almost dropping the necklaces I was holding. “I didn’t hear you come in!”

“Sorry.” Steven sighed as he shook his head. “No matter how much noise I think I’m making coming into the room you never seem to hear me.” He leaned over and gave me a kiss before looking over my shoulder. “How’s the packing going?”

“Well, so far I’ve decided which tops I’m bringing.” I held up two different necklaces. “But now I’m trying to decide which pieces of jewelry goes best with each top.”

“I like that one.” Steven pointed to the one in my left hand.

“Oh, thanks.” I placed the one in my right hand on top of the outfit. “But I think I’m going to go with this one.”

“Well…” Steven sighed shaking his head again. “I’m glad I could help.”

“You did help!” I said as I pointed to the suitcase. “You brought this down from the attic for me!”

“You’re welcome.” Steven sat at the edge of the bed. “So do you have a lot of fun things planned while you’re visiting Liz?”

“You know Liz! She’s got a whole itinerary written.” I smiled as I looked at the bathing suits lined up on the bed trying to decide which one was going to come with me. I held up the winning suit. “Just in case we have time to visit the pool.” I said as I dropped it in the suitcase.

“What else do you have planned?” He asked.

“Oh, you know…girl stuff.” I said as I moved on to getting more things out of my closet.

“That seems vague.” Steven said.

“Well, it depends on the weather, what we’re in the mood to do, and if we even feel like getting out of our pj’s that day.”

“That doesn’t sound like a lot of fun.” Steven said.

“That’s where you’re wrong.” I laughed. “I won’t have to cook or clean all week and if we feel like watching movies and eating snacks all day that’s what we’re going to do.” I dropped several pairs of pj’s in the suitcase. “It sounds like the perfect vacation to me!”

I turned around and my son Alex was standing next to me. I jumped again. “When did you get in here!” I cried. “I didn’t hear you come in!”

Alex shook his head and looked over at Steven. “She never hears us when we come in the room.”

“I swear I’m thinking about attaching bells to both of you so I can hear when you’re coming!” I laughed.

Alex shook his head. “Never going to happen.”

Steven looked over at Alex. “Your Mom just told me she’s going to hang out with Aunt Liz watching movies and eating snacks all week.”

“That’s not all we’re going to do!” I cried.

“Oh, that’s right.” He corrected himself. “You’re going to do ‘girl stuff’.” He used air quotes for the girl stuff.

“Exactly!” I tucked a book under my clothes.

“Well, we’re going to be doing ‘guy stuff’ here while you’re gone.” Steven said as he looked at Alex.

Alex looked confused. “What’s that suppose to mean?”

Steven shrugged his shoulders. “I have no idea. But I guess we’ll find out while your Mom’s away.”

“Well, you two enjoy yourselves!” I said as I zipped up my suitcase and pulled if off the bed. “I know I will!”

BOOK ADDICTION

“Just finished another one!” I said as I closed the cover of my book, tossed it next to me on the couch, and reached over to grab my cup of tea.

“What was this one about?” my son Alex asked.

“Oh, you know, another family drama where everyone is battling each other but in the end they realize they love one another and it all works out.” I explained as I took a sip of my tea.

“Okay.” Alex starts to laugh. “Sounds like it was a great book.”

I put my cup down on the coffee table. “Did you know that in the 1800’s it was considered

unhealthy to read?”

“Really?” Alex sat down on the couch and picked up the book I’d just put down, flipping it over to read the back cover. “Why?”

“Doctors claimed reading caused ‘hysteria’ and nervous breakdowns in women.” I looked over at him raising my eyebrows. “They also said that reading caused brain activity that would divert blood flow away from the womb so you’d hurt the baby if you were pregnant!” I couldn’t help but laugh. “They also claimed that woman who read would abandon their housework and childcare.”

Alex started laughed. “You’re kidding, right?”

“Nope.” I held up one hand in the air and the other over my heart. “Totally swear. That’s what they thought.”

“Sounds like they really didn’t want women reading back then.” Alex said as he tossed the book back on the couch.

“They only wanted men reading what they thought of as serious books like history, law and science. But they didn’t want them reading novels either because they thought it would affect their ability to work.”

Alex looked confused. “How’s that suppose to stop them from working?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “I guess they thought reading novels would make them lose track of time and they’d forget to go to work.”

Alex shook his head. “It’s kind of what they say about computer games now.”

“Well…” Now it was time for me to question that analogy.

Alex held up his hand. “Hear me out.” He said. “If some guy reads a fictional story for two hours it’s considered ‘higher education’ but have him play video games for the same amount of time and he’s addicted!”

“But people can get caught up in video games and spend the entire day playing!” I argued.

Alex looked at his watch. “As opposed to you reading for the last two hours?”

“It’s different.” I argued.

Just then my husband Steven came into the room. “Hey, what’s for dinner?” He asked as he was passing through the room.

I looked at my watch and saw that it was already dinner time and I hadn’t even started it yet. “Well…”

Alex held up my book, a smile on his face. “Well?” He asked.

“It’s not an addiction!” I cried. “I can stop anytime I want!”

Steven looked confused. “What are you guys talking about?”

“Nothing.” I sighed as I got up from the couch. “I’m starting dinner right now.”

HIDDEN TREASURE

My son Alex opened the door to the back porch, where I was already sitting having my first cup of tea.

“Morning!” He said. “You’re finally able to sit outside.”

“It’s beautiful out!” I said as I leaned back in my rocking chair. “I think this is the first time I’ve been able to sit outside since I started my summer vacation!” I turned around to smile at him. “But now that the heat wave has finally broken I’m loving it out here!”

Alex laughed. “I’m glad.” He stepped outside and closed the door behind him. “I was about to make some eggs, do you want any?”

I shook my head. “I already ate.”

Alex stood next to my chair. “Oh, what did you have?”

I stopped rocking. “Ummm… I forget.” I pretended to be interested in what was happening at the bird feeder.

“You forgot?” Alex didn’t sound like he believed that answer but decided not to ask anything further. “Okay. Well, I’m making some for myself.”

“Sounds good.” I reached over and picked up my cup of tea, waiting for him to go inside.

When I heard the door close behind him I let out a sigh of relief.

A few minutes later Alex was back outside. “Guess what I found in the garbage when I went to throw out my eggshells?” He came up next to me holding an empty Nutrageous candy bar wrapper.

“It’s not mine.” I quickly said.

Alex started to laugh. “Are you seriously going to go with that?”

I sighed. “I thought I’d jammed it down far enough in the trash that no one would find it.”

“You actually ate a candy bar for breakfast?”

“In my defense it wasn’t a whole candy bar.” I reasoned. “There was only a small piece left and when I went into the refrigerator to get some milk for my tea I saw it and I couldn’t help myself.”

“You had a candy bar in the refrigerator? I was in there last night and I didn’t see it.”

“Of course you didn’t.” I said matter-of-factually. “I’d hidden it.”

“You hid it in the refrigerator?”

“Yup! I do it all the time.” I took the wrapper from him and put it on the table next to me. “I hide things in the freezer, too.”

Alex shook his head. “Are you serious?”

“Very.” I leaned back in my chair. “I’ve lived in a house filled with guys for years. Do you really think I’d ever be able to have a treat that I could save for later, when I wanted it, if I didn’t have some good hiding places?”

Alex shook his head. “So you had a candy bar for breakfast.”

“A small piece of a candy bar.” I reminded him as I shrugged my shoulders. “Besides, it’s my summer vacation. I deserve a treat.”

“It was breakfast!” Alex called over his shoulder as he went back in the house.

“And it was delicious!” I called back to him.

COME OUT, COME OUT, WHEREVER YOU ARE

I was sitting on my porch, a container of bird seed next to my rocking chair, when my husband Steven came outside.

“Morning.” He said as he kissed the top of my head. “How’d you sleep?”

“Pretty good. How about you?” I pointed to the chair next to me. “Want to come join me?”

“I slept okay.” He said as he sat down. “What are you doing?”

“I just filled the bird feeders and I’m waiting for everyone to come out of the woods.”

Steven looked confused. “Who’s coming out of the woods?”

I pointed to the feeders. “When I was filling them I could see all the house finches jumping from branch to branch waiting for me to finish.” I pointed to the chipmunk scurrying by the fire pit. “He’s on his second trip of gathering the seeds I spilled on the ground.” I leaned back in my chair and began humming.

“That sounds familiar. What’s that song you’re humming?” He asked.

“It’s from the Wizard of Oz. ‘Come out, come out, wherever you are.’ I started to sing, then laughed. “I feel like Glinda the Good Witch trying to coax the Munchkins out of the underbrush.”

Just then a goldfinch flew out from the woods and landed on the birdbath.

Steven looked over at me. “Glinda, huh?”

I looked down at my outfit, which was a bathrobe over an oversized tee shirt and pajama bottoms. “Okay, I may not look like Glinda right now. But I think I said I FEEL like her. I never mentioned looking like her.”

We watched as a cardinal couple flew in and landed on the feeders.

“See? Everyone’s enjoying their breakfast!” I said as I smiled at Steven.

A few blue jays swooped in to join the party, squawking as they landed at the top of the feeders. “There’s enough room for everyone!” I called out to them as I looked over at Steven and began laughing.

Just then three squirrels, who were chasing each other around the oak tree, stopped to watch the chipmunk loading up his cheeks at the bottom of the feeders.

“And there you have it.” I sighed. “The squirrels have arrived and now it’s ruined for everyone.”

Steven shook his head. “Why don’t you like the squirrels?” He asked. “They have to eat, too.”

We watched as a squirrel shimmied up the pole of the feeder, chasing all the birds away while it leaned over and dumped all the seed onto the ground. The other squirrels were waiting underneath and began feasting on the pile of seeds.

“That’s why!” I said pointing to the fat little intruders. “They just chased all the birds away!”

Steven looked over at the table and saw my empty cup sitting there. “Would you like some more?” He asked pointing to my cup. “I can heat up some extra water for you when I’m heating up mine.”

“You know, maybe some more tea would be the exact thing I need right now.” I said as I got up and grabbed my container of birdseed and headed into the house. “Seeing that my magical movie moment seems to be over now.” I sighed. “I guess it’s time for me to get in the shower and get back to reality.”

SOMEBODY’S WATCHING ME

I was curled up on my couch watching my favorite show when I heard the chime of the front doorbell ring from the speaker in my hallway.

My television show was also interrupted with a video notification in the right hand corner of the screen and Alexa telling me “Someone is at your front door.” All this happened at the same time my phone began to vibrate on the cushion next to me also letting me know someone was at the front door.

“Okay, I’ve been properly notified.” I laughed as I got up from the couch, scooped up my phone, and saw that my son’s friend Tommy was at the front door. The notification on my phone also let me know that he was wearing a blue shirt and holding up a white bag. From the picture I could see the bag was from a fast food restaurant.

“Alex!” I called out to my son. “Tommy’s here and he brought snacks!”

I opened the front door. “Hey, Tommy! How are you doing?”

“I’m good.” He said as he came in.

As I shut the door behind him Alex came around the corner. “Hey, Tommy!”

I looked over at Alex. “Have you noticed the Ring doorbell has decided to give more of a description about the person at the door?”

Alex looked confused. “What?”

I held up my phone and showed him the picture of Tommy and the caption stating what color shirt he was wearing and that he was holding a white bag. “It used to just tell us if someone was at the front door. Now it tells you what they’re wearing and holding!”

Alex shrugged his shoulders. “Must be an upgrade in the program.”

I looked back at my phone. “Well, I didn’t order an upgrade. Did you?”

Alex just shook his head as he took the bag from Tommy and headed for the kitchen. “I don’t think you had to order it.” He said over his shoulder. “It’s probably just an AI upgrade.”

“Well, I don’t like it.” I grumbled as I followed both of them into the kitchen. “I feel like it’s too nosy.” I scrolled through app until I got to the picture of him coming home from work an hour earlier. “Look at this one!” I said as I held it up for him to see. “There’s someone coming up the steps holding a cooler!” I looked over at Tommy and showed him. “It’s telling me he’s holding a cooler!” I cried. “That’s creepy!”

Tommy shrugged his shoulders. “He is holding a cooler.” He reminded me.

“Well, it’s just too personal!” I looked at both of them. “Pretty soon I’m going to be walking out the front door for work an the ring camera is going to call out and say, ‘Is that what you’re wearing to work today?’” I shook my head in disgust. “Then it’s going to download what it thinks are some ‘appropriate’ outfits for me to wear and send me a link to Amazon to order them!”

Alex laughed as he grabbed some napkins. “Don’t you think you’re exaggerating just a little bit?”

“No.” I said sadly as I looked back at my phone. “I really don’t.” I sighed as I put my phone on the counter top and went back to the couch to finish my show.

BUNNY BONANZA

“Hey, there’s a bunny in our back yard!” My son Alex called to me from the kitchen as he was making his morning coffee.

“I’m watching one in the front yard!” I called back to him as I sat on the couch, sipping my tea, watching the front yard bunny nibble on some clover.

“I saw three of them yesterday.” Alex said as he came into the living room waiting for his water to heat up. “Why do you think there are so many this year?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “I haven’t seen any hawks in the neighborhood lately. I guess without any predators around the bunny population has been able to explode.”

Alex walked over to the front window. “I wonder where all the hawks went?” He asked as the kettle began to whistle and he went back into the kitchen to shut it off.

“No food, no hawks.” I called out to him. I watched as the bunny looked around before moving to another patch of clover. “Good job, my friend. Keep a lookout for any danger.”

Alex came back with his mug of coffee. “You know, now that I think about it, I haven’t seen any hawks around her for a few years.”

“Don’t worry.” I sighed. “They’ll be back.” We both watched as my bunny slowly hopped to the next patch of clover “Word will be out soon enough that our neighborhood is back to being a bunny bonanza and the hawks will be making their nests in our trees in no time.”

Alex frowned. “That’s a sad thought for the bunnies.”

I shook my head before taking another sip of my tea. “Sad but true.” I put my tea cup on the coffee table. “But I have pretty high hopes that Bernard will be able to hold his own against any hawks.”

Alex looked confused. “Who’s Bernard?”

“Bernard the Bunny.” I nodded my head toward the bunny in the front yard. “I’ve seen him every morning this week so I figured he deserved a name.” I looked over at Alex. “I have to say he’s impressed me with the way he’s always stopping and checking the sky for any problems. I’m pretty sure he’ll be able to outsmart any hawks that show up.”

Alex shook his head and laughed. “You named him?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “Of course. He visits our front yard every morning while I have my tea.” I reached over and picked up my tea cup again. “As far as I’m concerned he’s become a part of our family.”

“But how can you tell it’s the same bunny you’re seeing every morning?”

I shrugged my shoulders again and took a sip of tea. “I don’t.”

Alex laughed again. “So you’ve named every bunny who runs through our yard Bernard?”

“Exactly!” I looked over at him and smiled. “Now I don’t have to worry about anything happening to my Bernard because we have dozens of him!”

Alex shook his head as he headed back to his room. “Whatever you have to tell yourself to make it through the day.”

I smiled as I looked out the widow. “Exactly.” I said to myself as I watched Bernard hop across the lawn and under the lilac bush. “See you tomorrow my friend!”

AN ORANGE TREE

I was standing in my back yard, looking up in the trees, when my son Alex came out the back door.

“What are you doing?” He called to me.

I had my hand cupped over my eyebrows, shading my eyes from the morning sun. “I’m looking for oranges.” I called back.

Alex stepped out the back door and looked up into the trees. “Aren’t they maple trees?” He asked.

I looked over at him. “They are.” I pointed to the empty bird bath. “But I left some orange slices for the birds and now they’re missing.”

“So why do you think they’re in the trees?” Alex laughed.

“I looked it up on Google.” I explained. “If the oranges are missing it said it was probably a blue jay or a crow taking them up in the trees to eat them in peace.”

“So if they wanted to eat them in peace why are you trying to track them down?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “I just want to see who enjoyed eating them.”

I walked back toward the deck. “I guess I’ll never know.” I sighed.

“Well maybe whoever it was didn’t take them up in our trees and brought it over to the neighbors trees instead.”

That made me stop. “I didn’t think of that.” I looked over at the neighboring trees.

“Do you want me to get the binoculars for you?” Alex laughed again.

“No.” I laughed. “I guess that would look weird.”

We both went back in the house and I went over to the butcher block where we kept a fruit bowl. Grabbing another orange I went to the silverware drawer and took out a knife. “I’ll just put another orange out and see if I can catch who’s taking it.” I said as I sliced the orange into two pieces and walked back outside with them.

Dropping them near the bird feeders I headed back to the house. I could hear a blue jay and a crow calling out.

“Did you hear that?” I said to Alex as I came back inside. “A crow and a blue jay were letting everyone know I’d put some more fruit out.”

“Is that what they were calling out?” Alex couldn’t help but smile as he shook his head.

“That’s exactly what they were saying!” I explained as I went to the kitchen sink to wash my hands.

Just then my husband Steven came into the kitchen and went over to the butcher block to grab an orange. “Anyone want to share an orange with me?” He asked as he began to peel it.

“I’m good.” I said as I turned the water off and grabbed a towel to dry my hands.

He held out a wedge to Alex. “How about you?” He asked.

“I’m good, too.” Alex said as he leaned against the counter.

Steven popped a wedge into his mouth. “Well, I’m glad to see you guys are enjoying the oranges I bought yesterday.” He pointed over to the fruit bowl. “I see there’s already a few missing.”

Alex looked over at me raising his eyebrows.

“Everyone’s enjoying them!” I quickly said cutting off Alex before he could say anything.

“Yeah,” Alex said as he looked out the kitchen window where the orange was sitting on the ground near the bird feeders. “Everyone seems to be enjoying them!”

BUTTERY GOODNESS

My husband Steven and son Alex and I were in one of our favorite parks. As we hiked through the woods, (okay it was really a walk), we traveled over a wooden bridge where a slow moving brook was passing underneath. Bright green leaves of skunk cabbage plants were dotted along its banks.

“I have to say I absolutely LOVE this time of year!” I said as I stopped at the center of the bridge, leaning against the railing looking down in the water. “Is that a turtle?” I asked as I pointed to what looked like a dark shell half submerged in the water.

Alex leaned further over the railing. “Could be.” He said but neither one of us wanted to admit it could really just be a rock.

“Look at all those tadpoles!” Steven called as he pointed to a school of tadpoles swimming together close to the bottom of the brook.

“I wonder how long it will take for them to become frogs?” I asked as I looked over at Steven waiting for his answer.

Steven shrugged his shoulders. “I guess it depends on what kind of frogs they grow into.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Seems like a good answer.”

We started back on our walk. Leaving the bridge we climbed up a steep embankment before we walked into an open field filled with buttercups.

“Oh, my gosh!” I cried as the little yellow flowers danced in the breeze. “They’re beautiful!”

I reached down ready to pick one of the flowers and hold it under my chin.

“If you see the reflection of yellow under my chin it means I love butter!” I looked over at Alex to see if he was watching me.

“Don’t even bother picking one!” Alex laughed. “I saw how much butter you put on your English muffin after you toasted it this morning!” Alex looked over at Steven. “Let’s just say she LOVES butter!”

“Hey! That’s not fair!” I laughed.

“How’s that not fair?” Alex asked as he pointed to the flowers surrounding us. “You don’t even need to pick one for me to know you’re thoughts on butter.”

I stood back up placing my hands on my hips. “Well, everyone knows you have to put a butter base on your toasted muffin before you can put the jelly on it.”

“Everyone?” Alex’s eyebrows went up with the question.

“Everyone who wants to eat a deliciously toasted English muffin with jelly on it for breakfast!” I countered.

“Okay.” Steven said as he stepped in between us. “Have either of you seen any flowers around here that will tell us if you like ice cream?”

Alex and I both looked at him confused. “What?” We said in unison.

“I was planning on stopping for ice cream on the way home and I wanted to know if either of you are interested?”

“Sounds good to me.” I said headed for the parking lot.

“I’m in.” Alex agreed catching up to me.

“And that’s how you end a perfect day in the park.” Steven said we he caught up to us.